I am the administrator of Minnesota's J-1 visa waiver program. I read the Immigration Daily regularly and usually find a lot of good information there. I often refer others to ILW.COM for reliable immigration information. So, I was very disappointed in your article The ABCs Of Immigration - State 20 Waivers For Physicians. At least as it relates to Minnesota, the information in that article is more than a year old and no longer accurate. I cannot speak to the accuracy of the information about other states.
Minnesota does have a process for recommending waivers for a limited number of specialist physicians and has successfully done so. Even a quick look at our web page would have shown the authors that information. Waiver programs are changing rapidly and the biggest struggle is getting out accurate information. Perhaps the better approach would be to publish the web sites and contact names for the state programs and let us explain them.
The current guidelines for Minnesota's J-1 visa waiver program, including specialty waivers, can be found at: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/j1main.htm